Revelations: a visit with Yalumba

In synch with Hugh Fearnley’-Whittingstall’s revelation he now eats little or no meat and fish (see here), Fiona Beckett focused on vegetarian and vegan-friendly wines in her column in Saturday’s The Guardian Weekend.

It reminded me of another recent revelation – for me at least.  When I visited Yalumba (pictured) in the Barossa, Australia last month, I discovered that all Oxford Landing wines have been vegan friendly since 2008 and, since 2011, this is true of Yalumba’s entire portfolio save the sparkling wines.

How so?  What it means is that these wines are no longer fined – a process which typically uses animal-derived products like egg whites, isinglass, gelatine and milk casein to remove tannins and/or microscopic particles that might cloud the wines.   

Observing “it was quite liberating when we decided to do it,” Chief Winemaker Louisa Rose told me “because of all the work in the vineyards and with our growers, we’re getting the quality of fruit, so we don’t need to fine.”

And it’s a virtuous circle.  Pointing out not fining wines brings “a bit of edge and natural phenolics,” which is not only food friendly but also part of the natural balance of the wine, Rose sees it as part and parcel of why “our acids are a lot lower than lots of competitors.”  In other words, Yalumba aren’t big on acid additions, the “forceful acid balances” which (rightly) attracted the opprobium of Andrew Jeffords – see here. 

Here are my notes on the wines I tasted with Rose from Yalumba’s very extensive but consistently high quality portfolio. 

Yalumba Y Series Vermentino 2011

It might be Australia’s oldest family-owned company but Yalumba is renowned for innovation and, with its own nursery, is a font of experimentation with alternative varities like Italy’s Vermentino. This expressive white, the first Y Series Vermentino, is sourced from Bob and Faye Reichstein’s and Mark Trenwith’s vineyards in the Riverland township of Renmark.  With little sign of having just been bottled the previous day, it showed good typicity with a cut and thrust of citrus zest to a subtly textured, nutty palate edged with dried honey and basil.  Lowish alcohol too at 11.5% abv.

Pewsey Vale Riesling 2011

I’d visited Henschke just before Yalumba (click here for my report) so had already got the measure of 2011 Rieslings – cracking!  Very lifted with bath salts/floral notes on its expressive nose, the Pewsey Vale is super intense on the palate with bright citrus and greengage fruit, a hint of lime cordial and a persistent, mouthwatering, finely etched finish well defined by its long spine of acidity.  Very good.

Pewsey Vale The Contours 2006 (Eden Valley)

Perhaps just because I tasted it after the 2011, museum release The Contours seems pretty forward with lots of upfront lemon butter on toast.  Still the finish is long and rolling with good citric spine for structure.

Running with Bulls Tempranillo (white label) 2010 (Barossa)

Actively involved in TempraNeo, a collective of Tempranillo makers inspired by the variety, Rose tells me “I really believe in Tempranillo” adding, “if it had been planted in the early vineyards where Shiraz is planted, it could have been 25% of the Australian crush today because of its versatility across climates.”    For Rose, there are three golden rules with Tempranillo.  First, using older oak, second, bottling it quite early (after 6-9 months) and third, working with its relatively low acidity.  That way she reckons the acid and tannin balance works best, whereas acidification results in a hard profile.  What I like about this wine is its brightness, drinkability and fluidity.  Unencumbered by ambitious new oak, its juicy sweet and sour plum, rhubarb and dried herbs are shown off to good advantage.   Yalumba also make a grey label Running with Bulls from Wrattonbully which Rose says is more pot pourri and florals with silkier tannins versus this wine from the Barossa which has more gravelly tannins and hints of tomato leaf.

Yalumba Shiraz Viognier 2008 (Eden Valley)

For the first time in 2008, the Shiraz & splash of Viognier (3%) has been exclusively sourced from the Eden Valley, so no fruit from the Barossa Valley floor below.  Wreathed in a perfume of liquorice and anise spice, its higher source of origin is readily and appetisingly apparent.  Equally, while it has a richness of texture and good intensity of fruit, its red and black berry fruits saturate the palate, making for a fresh and dry finish. Very good.

Yalumba Handpicked Shiraz Viognier 2008 (Eden Valley)

In this year, 2 vineyards contributed to this wine, including old vines from the cool, easterly facing Bartholomaeus site. It’s a much denser wine, seemingly riper with a hint of molasses and, at this early stage of the game, its oak is more readily apparent. Still the Eden Valley signature spice comes through loud and clear on the finish which shows pepper and clove.  Very intense with a cushion of ripe, powerful tannins, it’ll benefit from a few years cellaring.

Yalumba The Patchwork 2008 (Barossa)

So-called because, though mostly from the Barossa Valley (floor), this wine is sourced from several vineyards.  Patently pedigree vineyards at that – this classy, rich Shiraz delivers plenty of bang for buck for around £12.  There’s a succulence as well as sweetness to its fleshy ripe plum fruit and undertones of richer, spicier plumcake, the whole supported by ripe but present savoury tannins.  Great balance and, with a deft burnish of new oak (15% total), it lets the fruit do the talking, making for a rich but unworked Barossa red.

Yalumba Batholomaeus Vineyard 2006 (Eden Valley)

While in common with most longstanding Barossa producers, Yalumba’s Shiraz wines represent multi-vineyard blends, in 2004, the company released a range of single site Shiraz.  The move reflects a general shift in Australia, also a Barossa-wide project called Barossa Ground which is assessing whether and how the different soil types, aspects and micro climates of the Barossa might differentiate the region’s Shiraz.  So while old vine Shiraz from the cool, easterly facing Bartholomaeus family vineyard has consistently gone into The Octavius, Yalumba’s flagship Shiraz, this wine comes exclusively from the Batholomaeus Vineyard.  On the southern edge of the Eden Valley township, the east-facing 9 acre “Barty’s block” of unknown clones was planted in 1920 on own roots. The classic lean and mean Eden Valley soil type is the Springland-Marne grey brown Podzolic skeletal soils.  Puts me in mind of Henschke’s Mount Edelstone with its dried sage/pine needle/eucalyptus nose and palate.  It’s very savoury, long persistent and fresh with a core of juicy blackberry, plum/damsons.

Yalumba Fromm Vineyard 2006 (Barossa Valley)

The Fromm vineyard is on the northern outskirts of Lyndoch and this Shiraz hails from the gently sloping 2 acre Block 1, planted on own roots to unknown clones in 1935. The vineyard soil profile changes from red brown earth at the northern end, to a heavy textured soil in the south.  Well balanced with good underlying freshness, it’s denser and darker than the Batholomaeus with a mocha edge to its sweet berry and cherry fruit, liquorice too.  Finishes long and juicy; fine tannins make for a refined wine.

Yalumba Hahn Farm 2006 (Barossa Valley)

The Hahn Family Vineyard is located at Light’s Pass and this Shiraz sourced from the oldest site on the vineyard known as Block D, which was planted on own roots in 1972.  Though the vines are relatively young, yields can be very low cropping at a super shy 1.5-2.0 tonnes per acre.  The soil is typically a sandy loam top soil over red clay. For Rose, of the 3 single vineyard wines, this develops secondary characters the quickest.  Earthy, spicy and mineral it’s densely layered with sweet plum, savoury black olive and mocha and finishes long, intense and well-balanced with an attractive dusty, earthy minerality.

Want to know more about the different facets of the Barossa?  Click here for a map of the Barossa showing the different locations of Yalumba’s single vineyard wines and click here for my video interview with Louisa Rose about the differences between the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley.   And click here for a heap more information about the Barossa region.